Police: Woman Spit On Shopper In One-Way Row

MAY 28--A Connecticut woman allegedly spit in the face of a fellow shopper when the victim violated a supermarket’s social distancing guidelines by going the wrong direction in a one-way aisle, police report.

According to cops, Martine Shanchuk, a 40-year-old Sandy Hook resident, confronted the male victim inside a Big Y market on May 18. As part of the store’s coronavirus safety measures, one-way aisles have been established to allow patrons to more easily maintain a six-foot distance from other individuals.

Upon spotting the man going the wrong direction in an aisle, Shanchuk told police she “felt it was necessary to tell him to turn around and enforce Big Y’s aisle rules herself,” according to an arrest summary.

After Shanchuk (pictured at right) confronted the man, he did not reverse course in the aisle. Shanchuk, cops charge, then “just stopped in the aisle to prevent him from continuing down the aisle in the wrong direction.”

Shanchuk “continued to yell” at the man, who was “not listening to her,” police report. She then “removed her face mask and spit in the male's face."

Cops responded to the market after the victim dialed 911 to say that “while shopping at Big Y, he got into an argument with a female shopper about going the wrong way down an aisle and that during the argument, the female spit in his face.”

Arrested for breach of peace, Shanchuk is free in advance of a July 17 court hearing. (2 pages)